alexandria ambrosio

The stars were out in New York City at Tuesday Night’s “Watch The Throne” concert at the world famous Madison Square Garden. As I took my seat in Section 107, Row 8, I could see the likes of Beyonce, Neo, Serena Williams, Fat Joe, and more. In fact, Alexandria Ambrosio and three other Victoria’s Secrets models sat down in the seats right next to me! About five minutes before the lights went out, Carmelo Anthony walked onto the floor and got a New York City home crowd standing ovation accompanied with chants of “Melo”. For all of the big names in the Garden that night, no one shined more than the true stars of the show.

The lights went dark at about 9:30 p.m. and it was on. Kanye appeared on a platform on the right of the arena and Jay-Z came out a few seconds later on a platform to the left. They were facing each other as they ripped into the egotistical “H.A.M.”, a bonus track off of the “Watch The Throne” album. Jay-Z was immediately in showman form as he kept yelling to the crowd “What’s Up?”. After the initial song, the platforms rose into cubes thirty feet off of the ground and transformed into giant shark tanks as they rapped “Who Gon Stop Me”.

This was one of the highlights of the show and the shark stages are getting a lot of buzz in the world of twitter and facebook. It really was a sight to behold. The back and forth interaction across the arena between “Hova” and “Ye” while standing atop these giant cubes was memorable and the two rappers seemed larger than life.

The cubes descended back into the floor and the two superstars vanished for a few minutes as they made their way to the main stage. For the next two and half hours the fans were treated to a sing along catalog of Jay-Z’s solo hits, Kanye’s solo hits, the duo’s collaborations over the years, and of course a heavy dose of Throne songs. The stage set up was unique and featured a plethera of pyrotechnics, giant images on the big screens of the two, as well as a laser light show that was breath-taking.

As you know from my previous post on this blog, I attended the same concert two nights earlier in New Jersey. While that show was incredible and had a distinct “wow” factor, this night was extra special. I have never, in all of the 200 plus concerts I have attended, been part of a crowd that was so energetic.

The entire crowd danced, rapped, sang, jumped, swayed, and bounced along with Jay-Z and Kanye West. And the two of them responded in due fashion. Kanye was acting like a maniac running sprints, dancing wildly, and giving it his all. Meanwhile, Jay-Z was as cool as ever, delivering his lyrics clearly and smoothly, and his interaction with the crowd was really what made MSG shake.

“Empire State of Mind” and “Encore” never sounded so good to me. It was like Jay-Z thought of those lyrics while standing on stage at the Garden. He was smiling throughout the show and geniunely looked like he was having the time of his life. I took a lot of time to just study his facial expressions as well as to look around the arena at all of the people going crazy. There was a special, special feeling in the air that night and everyone was a part of it.

Kanye’s wardrobe was as bizarre as ever. He changed his clothes at least five times that night and made his way through a collection of Bill Cosby-like sweaters. All throughout he wore a leather skirt and leather tights. But he gave extra that night into his performance and for once, I even saw him smile a few times. He and his big brother clearly have a lot of admiration for each other and that was evident that night as their on stage interaction was flawless and real.

The setlist was a bit different from the show I saw at the Izod Center as Kanye, to my delight, added in his first single “Through the Wire” and the two sang “Made in America”. During the latter, they dedicated the song to Heavy D, who had died that same day. They had everyone take out either a lighter or their cell phone and the entire arena became a spectacle of lights.

A funny moment was after Jay-Z performed the smash hit, “Big Pimpin”, Kanye stated to the crowd “Jay-Z was my hero growing up and I always wanted to be like him. But every time I would try to live Big Pimpin, I couldn’t because ….” and the speakers broke right into the Jamie Foxx chorus of “Gold Digger”: “she take my money”. You can see the video below of this humorous scripted moment.

The encore was completely different from Sunday night’s show and was a true fan’s delight. “***** In Paris” was played for the third time and, of course, they did “Encore”. The whole crowd was chanting “Hova, Hova, Hova” and Jay made sure the crowd also gave love to Kanye. Then Jay-Z went off script and asked a fan in the crowd what time it was and said “no really, what time is it? Like the real time”. He then said that they had fifteen minutes to run through some more hits. The two broke into some old classics like “Guess Who’s Back”, “Dead Presidents”, “All Falls Down”, “Get Em High”, “Jigga My *****”, and more. They just kept turning back to the DJ behind him and called out a song that seemed to come off the top of their head.

Like I said, there was a special feeling in the air on that night. The two music powerhouses combined at the World’s Greatest Arena to put on one of the best shows I have ever seen. It was an amazing 50 song setlist, performed flawlessly and with great pride, swagger, and passion. I have been absolutely blown away by the Watch The Throne Tour and this night was, perhaps, the best of them all.